Some impressions from my home town Bremerhaven. I've been going to Teo's ice cream parlour since I was a teenager. The prices have not changed much since then, and the gelato is fantastic! It's a real Italian family business.

Bremerhaven was badly bombed during World War II, but some of the beautiful old architecture remained, like this church, built with red bricks in gothic style, which is very typical for the region.

One of the many harbours in town. All the ships are museums and you can go aboard for a look, even on the submarine.

On Thursday evening, Marco, my Mama and I took the bikes to go to the Schnitzelbuffet. We rode through the fields. It reminded me of my child hood, when I used to go out and play in the countryside a lot.

An honesty stand by the side of the road. All the flowers and produce have a price sticker, and you just take what you want and leave the money. And a very typically German restaurant interior.

Some images from the Friday Farmers' Market in my parents' town.

After the market, we went antiquing.

Vintage pudding mix or pickling aid, anyone?

The antique store was amazing. Housed in an old mill (you can see the old mill stones in some of the pictures), there were several rooms of antique furniture, paintings, crockery, jewellery, knick knacks... of everything your heart could possibly desire!

Glass lamp shades.

A doll's kitchen.

You could peak into the dealer's workshops, with all the solutions and tools he ises for restauration.

Marco and I bought a 50s side table, an old printer's tray, a pretty bowl, a stein, a earthenware bottle, and an antique cross stitch booklet for €45. Erm, and a magnificent 50s cupboard (similar to this) for €120. I failed to take a picture of it, and my parents will bring it in their VW transporter on their next trip to England after my Papa has restored a few minor things. It all felt like such a score!

After the exhausting task of spending money, we needed a cake stop and went to another harbour area, where we also bought some smoked fish.

Saturday morning, we went for our big grocery shopping trip. In the afternoon, some freinds and family came to my parents' house for a barbecue. It stayed dry just long enough to grill and eat outside. Once the last steak was done, the rain came...

My Papa manning the grill.

My two Omas.

My Opa on my Papa's side and my brother Aiko with his girlfriend Mareike in the background.

My aunt Christa (Papa's sister) and my uncle Werner (Mama's brother).

My Opa on my Mama's side and Marco, Aiko and Mareike.

My Papa and yours truly.

There is never any rest on a visit home, so Sunday morning, we were off for our horse and cart ride. This outing was a present to my Opa on his 80th birthday, because he loves horses. It took 1 and a half years to arrange this trip, because my brother and I were never home at the same times before.

The owner of the horses and the cart, Hermann. He is an acquaintance of my Papa's.

Hermann's gigantic German Shepherd. He was a very friendly giant, though.

The horses were called Kaspar and Amigo. Amigo is 23 years old!

Uncle Werner in the back of the cart.

My parents and some overcast countryside.

Cakey snacks for our coffee break.

We stopped for coffee and cake at this very typical house, which is a museum, but was closed. We had two differnt kinds of Butterkuchen, which is a tray bake with a butter and almond topping. My Papa and Opa made one each.

One of the villages we went through had a very characteristic festival going on. A lot of small German villages have a shooting club with a shooting range. Once a year, there is a big shooting competion, with the best shots being crowned shooting king and queen. These festivals usually involve a lot of drinking, and the streets of the village will be festooned with wreaths and ribbons like these.

Early on Monday morning, it was time to say goodbye again. I tried to take some pictures of the car. It was packed to full capacity, I was amazed how much stuff we were able to fit.

We had some time in Dunkerque before we had to board the ferry, and I took these pictures by the beach.

We also stopped at a huge hypermarche on the way to the port. Unfortunately, we only had half an hour for what we would have needed 2. We managed to pick up some wine and cheese, and I guess with the limited space we had in the car, it was good we did not have more opportunity to browse the aisles.

They had this cool digital price tags there...

The last picture (congratulations if you have made it all the way here!) shows the contents of the car on our living room floor after we got home. I still cannot believe that it all fit! My Mama was very happy to reclaim some of her attic space, and I guess I will have to spend the weekend to sort through everything!

12 comments:

Where to start?1. Great photos as always. I'm quite jealous of your camera skills.2. Why oh why did you not buy the vintage pudding mix... best before 1902?3. Just the word Schnitzelbuffet is making me hungry.4. I load my car up like that whenever I go over to my mum in France, and I had 2 very cramped children aswell!

1. I realize that a lot of my favourite holiday memories are food based...

2. Your right, it looks like I could have fit all of the other breakfast items between the slices to make a gigantic sandwich! Which would have been very appealing... I'm afraid it's just the perspective, though...

That's awesome! Your trip looks like it was incredibly fun and productive. I can't get over that stall where you just leave money and take the product. I wish the whole world could be honest like that and we all would live in a better place. I wish I could say Italians could do that but I really don't see that in their culture.

Thanks for sharing this Annika! And yes! I did make it all the way to the bottom! :-)